


Dragons Always Keep An Oath

by AngelofMuses



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Based on other work, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 13:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11186166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofMuses/pseuds/AngelofMuses
Summary: He's rejected them, and now they're alone, coping with the loss. How could he leave his dragons like that?





	Dragons Always Keep An Oath

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dragons Cannot Break a Promise](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384746) by [HomuraBakura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura). 



> So , HomuraBakura's fic is kinda required reading to understand what's going on here, so go check out Dragons Cannot Break a Promise if you haven't already!

                Yuya’s vision swam. His body ached, but it hurt far less than his counterpart’s emotions running through him. Zarc’s resurrection had destroyed any barriers between them, and their grief and anguish tore into his heart as if it was his own. Even Yuri, who was trying to hold onto his drive and anger, was on the breaking point. Why did they have to betray him? Why couldn’t they just be Zarc’s dragons again? Why did they have to fight? Why? _Why?_

 It hadn’t taken long at all for Zarc to overpower the other three. Yugo struggled the longest, biting and kicking in a storm, but Zarc was stronger than any of them. Yuya hadn’t felt it until Zarc left, but all of their souls were fractured. Zarc had ripped himself away from them, leaving a gaping hole that stung with the mere thought of him. He never realized how much he needed that part of Zarc’s soul. He always carried it with him, always kept at least a semblance of the bond they had before. Now, he was just broken and empty.

“Odd-Eyes…” Yuya was jolted out of his thoughts by Yugo’s whimper, and he finally remembered himself. Edo was holding him, and he shakily pushed away. His arms and legs felt like lead, it was near impossible to steady himself. The bruises where Zarc kicked him whined, and his knees nearly buckled. He felt his counterparts flinch in response, and he finally looked up to see them. Yuto was holding his arm, down on his knees. Yugo was also on the ground, hands curled into tight fists as if he looked ready to punch something. Yuri was standing, but he was hunched over and bracing himself on the wall, where the shadows were slowly peeling away.

“Clea- Yugo, are you ok?” Yuya almost couldn’t walk, weighed down by pain and grief, but his brothers’ pain gave him enough motivation to force himself to stand and stumble forward. Edo’s hand hovered over his shoulder, but he batted it away.

                “We failed him.” Yuya gasped as he felt Yugo’s guilt rip through him, mixing with his own. Yuto let out a faint moan and Yuri hissed through his teeth at it.

                “Where the fuck did he go?!” Kaito was looking around wildly, duel disk still primed and ready to go.

                “He’s- He’s going for Ray.” Yuto barely managed to get out in a pained voice. “He thinks if he kills her then we’ll…” Then they’d join him again. They couldn’t reach Zarc’s heart, but they sensed him. He was powerful enough to radiate off the murderous anger for anyone to feel. Or, at least, any duel monster.

                “We need to get there before him then, but-“ Edo looked over the boys, all barely able to stand through the pain and disorientation. “Where do we take them?”

                Edo and Kaito whipped around in surprise when it was Yuri who answered, giving a broken laugh through heaving breaths. “Take us? No matter where you take us, we’re not going to be safe. Once he kills her, he’ll be coming for us. And if I know him, he’s taking us whether we want it or not.” Yuri laughed again, but it devolved into coughing as his lungs protested. Yuya felt his own chest burn in turn.

                Edo frowned. “We’ll stop him before-“

                “You can’t.” Yuya’s voice cracked. “We- we have to go, maybe, maybe I can- Maybe if I can make him listen…”

                “Don’t fool yourself, _Yuya,_ ” Yuri spat. Even with all the emotions flying around in his head, Yuya could feel Yuri’s self-loathing. He wanted to call Yuya Odd-Eyes, and he hated himself for not being able to control these _damn memories_.

                Yuya felt so dizzy, like he was going to throw up. Having the other three pushed into his head all at once was too much, he couldn’t bear it. And it was only made worse by the fact that Zarc wasn’t here to comfort any of them. His body felt all wrong, like a shirt that was far too tight, or shoes you put on the wrong way. It sunk into his gut that all the parts of his soul that were made to be human had just been ripped out for Zarc.

                “Even if we can’t change his mind, we have to try and… and-“ Yuya couldn’t force himself to finish the sentence. He couldn’t ever say he’d betray Zarc. He couldn’t ever kill Zarc. Yugo was digging his nails into his palms, so hard Yuya felt like he was drawing blood from his own hand.

                “You say that like it wasn’t your fault in the first place.” Yuri’s accusation cleared the emotional channel for a solitary second with shock, leaving Yuri’s loathing, before anger and confusion overtook it. Yuya shrank back, Yugo and Yuto were clamoring around in his head and it made his ears ring.

                “What the hell do you mean, you smug-faced bastard?” Yugo screamed. He was badly bruised enough that he couldn’t get up to actually punch Yuri, but he forced the feelings over the bond, getting some smug satisfaction when Yuri had to stumble under the weight of the emotions. Yuri glared at him, baring his teeth and only barely resisting the urge to growl.

                “Unless you’re denser than I thought, I believe you might remember whose idea it was to destroy everything in the first place.” Yuri gave a pointed glare at Yuya, and suddenly, shards of memory assaulted him over the bond.

                “ _Odd-Eyes, this isn’t like you.”_ He remembered how scared they felt, his brothers didn’t know what to think. They had never seen him that livid before, they had never felt such absolute malice from him.

_“They’re hurting him, they need to fucking die. If I hadn’t been there, they would have let him be killed. They don’t care about us, and they’re going to kill him if we don’t kill them first!”_ He was inconsolable, screaming. Zarc had nearly fallen to his death that day, trying to escape someone’s blast. He had never been so terrified as he was in that moment, racing from across the field to catch him.

_“Odd Eyes, please, calm down.”_ Clear Wing’s voice was shaking so badly, it was a wonder that he didn’t break down bawling right then.

                _“He’s hurt! He got hurt, and they just screamed for more! If they want to see blood so badly, then let’s see how much they cheer when it’s my claws on their fucking throats.”_ Right, Zarc had gotten a concussion. Odd Eyes had only barely caught him in time, and he still had a nasty impact to his head. Luckily, his spine was intact, but the queue for the hospital was so long, Zarc wasn’t even allowed into the waiting room for three days.

                _“Odd-Eyes, I know you’re upset, but please, you’re only working yourself up more like this.“_ He had all but blocked out his brothers and their feelings at this point, letting his own feelings overtake him and their bond. He had been so selfish, he couldn’t bring himself to listen.

_“I can’t lose him! I can’t let them take him away, he’s already so distant, they won’t let him sleep and he barely has time to eat and now they’re screaming for his death. They just need to all die, so they can’t hurt him anymore.”_ He had been crying, so much that he could barely see through the tears.

                _“Odd-Eyes…”_ By that point, he had been so far gone, Dark Rebellion couldn’t do anything but curl his tail around him, hugging him tight and trying to bear the emotions with him. He hated the humans so much, he was so terrified he’d lost his boy. Clear Wing and Starve Venom joined them, all holding each other closely and trying to bear the terror and hatred with their brother.

                Yuri finally stopped pushing the memories over the bond, and Yuya had to gasp for breath. He had been hyperventilating, it had felt so real, like he was back in the stadium with his brothers. Fresh tears had gathered in his eyes, and he was on the verge of collapsing again. Yuto and Yugo were reeling from the flashback as well, and he could hear their ragged breath as they tried to collect themselves. Yuri was right, it was Odd-Eyes/Yuya… he was the one that infected his brothers with that viciousness, he’d been the one who was most desperate to fire on that crowd.

                “Th-That’s not- That’s not fair, Ven.” Yugo managed through his heavy breaths. “We went along with it, Odd-Eyes didn’t make us do anything.”

                “Please, not right now,” Yuto growled as he tried to regain his own breath, “For once in your life, please shut up.”

                “You’re both idiots if you still think _Yuya_ deserves any sympathy for all this.” The words stung just as much as the loathing behind them. Starve Venom hated him that much…? Yuya desperately wanted to curl up into a ball and sob. What had happened to them? What had happened that they were all so distant from each other now?

                “Ven, please, you’re only making this worse.” Yuto was the most composed out of the four of them, but his shoulder was still in a lot of pain, and Yuya realized rather belatedly that he was trying to hold his pain back from their bond.

                “Worse? The moment we come back together, Zarc’s going to take over again and just use us like he’s another goddamn human in that crowd, and it’s all Odd-Eyes fault!” Yuri screamed, and a flood of emotions came rushing through their minds again. Yuri desperately was fighting against the memories and the instincts. He didn’t want to remember, he didn’t want to love this boy like he did. He hated himself for it. The dragon part of him hated how disloyal he was, while the human part hated his subservience. Yuri wasn’t mad at him, he was only frustrated with himself. He kept trying to fight every part of himself, and Yuya couldn’t stop himself from trying to run to Starve Venom, comfort his brother who was hurting. He stopped just a few feet away as Yuri glared and his lips curled back into a snarl. “Leave me _alone_.”

                “Starve Venom… I’m sorry,” Yuya tried to send his apology over the mental link, but Yuri pushed him away. He felt so lost. All his brothers were hurting, and there was nothing he could do…

                “Why do you have to be so difficult Ven…?” Yuto muttered.

                Yuya’s head snapped up as Edo firmly placed a hand on his shoulder.

                “Goddammit… Kaito, go and warn the others. Stall him if you have to, I’ll back you up when I get there. I need get these four somewhere safe.” Yuya had forgotten Edo and Kaito were there, watching them all fall apart at the seams. Kaito ran down the hall, in the direction that he and Edo had come from, while Edo tried to give him a gentle smile. “Yuya, it’s ok. I… don’t really understand what’s going on, but you’re gonna be ok. We’ll stop him.”

                A panic rose in Yuya’s chest. They were going to fight Zarc. No, no he couldn’t let Zarc hurt his friends. He couldn’t let him get to Yuzu or Ruri, or any of the girls. Reiji and his father were in the throne room, they were too close. He couldn’t let them get hurt, but above all…

                He couldn’t let them hurt Zarc.

                Something burned in his chest, and he didn’t know where it came from, but he grabbed it desperately, and the flame pushed away some of the anguish. He felt Zarc, stalking down the halls, slowly and deliberately. Their bond might’ve been cut, but Yuya still knew his boy. Zarc didn’t know where he was, Yuya still had time. He could do this, if only he could...

                His brothers stiffened at the sudden change in emotions, all drawing back from it. Their emotions became quieter, and Yuya had to stop himself from sighing in relief as his head finally became quiet enough to think properly.

                “No… You don’t-“ Yuya put his hand to his mouth, stifling the sob that was forming. Even if he had found the new fire in his chest, that just remove all the hurt he had endured, and he had to push down his own grief to convince Edo. “Kaito can’t fight him alone. Go with him, please.”

                “Yuya-“ Edo tried to protest, but Yuya shook his head.

                “No, just… go. We don’t have time to argue. Please, Edo. Kaito is going to get hurt if you don’t follow him _now._ ”

                Edo stood there for a moment, eyes darting to each of the four boys. He bit his lip, concern flashing across his face. Finally, after a moment, he replied, “Stay safe, we’ll come back.” Yuya couldn’t bring himself to answer, so he just nodded. Edo hesitated, gaze flashing over the boys, but he shook his head and bolted down the hall Kaito had fled to.

                “Odd-Eyes… what- what are you doing…?” Yugo/Clear Wing’s confusion washed over him, and Yuya had to suck in his breath to keep his composure and plan in his head. “He’s… He’s not..” Yugo’s words failed him, but Yuya heard it clear as day inside his mind. Zarc wasn’t were Edo and Kaito were running off to, he was going to Ray. The girls were on the other end of the building, their bracelets resonating with Zarc’s presence.

                “I’m going to get him back.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the disagreements broke out in his head. _‘I already told you that’s not going to work’, ‘you’re only going to get hurt’, ‘odd-eyes, he’s gone’_. Yuya winced at how loud it was, all of them talking at once was too much to bear. Yuya screwed his eyes shut and tried his best to keep his thoughts louder than the others, he couldn’t get overwhelmed and break down again.

                “I don’t care. I made a promise to him, and I need to keep it. I’m not running away.” Yuya sniffled in spite of himself, still trying to hold back from the grief of the missing piece of his soul. “I know that it’s my fault he’s like this. So I’m going to fix it.”

                “You’re an idiot, an utter, complete idiot.” Yuri mumbled, tightening his fist on the wall.

                “I know. I’m not asking you guys to come with me-“

                Yugo jumped up, pushing off the ground quickly and narrowing his eyes in determination. “I’m going. I… I want to save him too.”

                “And you know I’m always with you, Odd Eyes.” Yuto said, standing up while cradling his arm. He rolled his shoulder, and even though pain shot through Yuya’s arm, it didn’t feel like Yuto had broken anything, just bruised and sprained a few muscles.

                Yuri had gone strangely silent over their bond, and Yuya could see his expression at all. His bangs hung low in his eyes, and his mouth was in a tight frown.

                “You don’t have to come with us,” Yuya paused, unsure of which name to actually use, “…Yuri.”

                “Were you three always this sentimental? You’re hopeless” Yuri’s voice had changed. It was low and soft, not betraying any emotions.

                “You… you don’t have to be one of his dragons. I’d understand if you just want to be Yuri. You didn’t ask for this, I’d understand.” Yuya still couldn’t feel anything substantial from Yuri yet.

                “…Don’t think so lowly of me, Odd-Eyes.” Finally, Yuya could feel some emotion radiating off Yuri. Was he concerned? No, it was something more than that, something happier. There wasn’t a name Yuya could put on the feeling, but it was a connection. He was accepting his brother’s feelings, at least in part.

                “So you’re coming?” Yuya let too much hope into his voice, but he couldn’t help it.

                “Well, you idiots made me make a promise.” Yuri quirked a half-smile. It wasn’t a smirk, but a genuine grin on his face, “And dragons never break a promise, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> This was fun! Please leave a comment down below on what you thought, or if anything could be improved!


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